Set Up a Recycling Center

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Read up on our expert tips and then share your own!

Every little bit helps when it comes to protecting the Earth’s resources. Here are some ideas for setting up a recycling center in your home.

Locate A Place for Your Recycling Center

It’s easier to develop consistent recycling habits if you make your system as convenient as possible and part of your daily routine. Choose a spot in or near the kitchen, which is where most waste is generated. Other locations include a corner of the laundry room or the hallway between the kitchen and garage.

Select Your Recycling Containers

The number and size of receptacles you will need depends on the types of items you plan to recycle. Common recycling categories include newspapers, glass, metal and plastic. Contact your local trash removal service or recycling center to learn what items they take.

Make It Easy

Make recycling a family affair. It’s easier to get people involved if they know what they’re supposed to do.

Decide who will be responsible for what recycling jobs.

Color-code, label or put pictures on recycling containers, so small children can help sort recyclables.

Post special instructions such as a list of what items can and can not be recycled.

Keep Your Recycling Center Free of Insects and Odor

Don’t give pests a reason to visit your recycling center. Rinse out food and beverage containers before placing them in receptacles. Dispose your recyclables by making a plan to either take them to a recycling center such as those available at your local supermarket, or have your trash removal service pick up your recyclables at least every two weeks.

I love to buy lettuce in the plastic see-thru containers. When all the lettuce is eaten, I wash the container and put it near the kitchen sink. There I can use it to collect soda cans which have been rinsed out, paper from junk mail and other items for recycling. I then carry it to the big recycle bin. May make several trips a day, but I'm also getting a little exercise! By the time it's unusable, I've gotten another so it goes in the recycle bin and I start anew.

We renovated our kitchen, and included a recycle drawer, large enough to hold 3 containers, one each for cans, cardboard and bottles/plastic (required in our city), and looked high and low for containers to fit in the drawer. Finally found them at the Container Store "Eco Cocoon Trash Cans". Good because they are moldable so the size of the drawer does not matter as much, and they are sturdy rubber which can be easily washed out. It was a 3 month search but worth it as these are perfect.

After I get the mail each day, I go through it before coming into the house, then I immediately dispose of the junk items in the recycling bin in the garage. That way, the junk mail never make its way into my house and doesn't get the chance to clutter up my kitchen or desk!

Go vertical with dorm room storage since floor space is limited. Buy things that stack on top of each other such as small containers for stamps, envelopes, pens, pencils, etc. for the desk area. In large containers, encourage students to store like items together like food, beverage, and snacks in one and first aid kit, sewing kit, surplus toothpaste, makeup, & vitamins, etc in another. The tops of containers can then be used for display or more storage.

We re-did our kitchen pantry with Elfa shelving. After painting a dingy closet, we added shelving. Our main objective was to organize the recycling and garbage. Living in Minneapolis, we have to sort our recycling by plastics, cans, glass, and paper. This is very difficult in a small closet without having to touch the garbage twice. After designing a custom closet at your store, we have figured out a great way to organize and the kids love it too. Of course, we purchased a Simple Human garbage can, pet food container, and baskets at the Container Store to organize everything else.

While I don't have a fancy recylcing center, I do have a tip related to it: I reuse plastic shopping bags from the supermarket and drugstore to hold my recyclables. To store the unused bags, I fold them up and keep them in an old tissue box. It's a simple solution with materials that everyone has in the house - and it keeps bag clutter from taking up valuable space in your kitchen cabinets.

Plastic Laundry bins are already breathable, easy to clean and sturdy enough to handle loads of recyclables.They also are easy to transport to the back of the minivan and to the recycle center. My 4yr. old loves how easy recycling is with these bins...great to color code these or sort items according to size of bins(ie. small bin for mags/newpaper..large ones for gallon jugs)My 11 yr old loves the "quick dump and go" theory just by reusing old laundry bins!